A delegation from the U.S. Bureau of Prisons met with local officials today and tried to calm their fears after inspecting the Thomson Correctional Center in western Illinois, where the White House is considering housing some terror suspects now detained at Guantanamo Bay.

"My impression is this is probably their number 1 choice," Dixon Mayor Jim Burke said after the closed-door meeting.

Of about 3,000 jobs that would be created, about 300 to 500 would be for local residents, State Rep. Jim Sacia said.

That's still a boon for the local economy, Sacia said.

"They buy homes. They go to the restaurants. They go to the hardware store," Sacia said of prison employees, whether they're from Thomson or not. "I think that's great for economic development and I think that's what this place is all about."

The Obama administration last week revealed that the largely vacant prison is a leading candidate to house a "limited number" of terrorism suspects.

If Thomson does become home to Guantanamo detainees, they would not be allowed visitors and the facility would be at least as secure as a Supermax prison in Florence, Colorado, federal officials said today.

The Bureau of Prisons toured Thomson to see if it wanted to buy the nearly-vacant, 146-acre prison. They would house maximum-security federal prisoners and lease a portion of the prison to the Department of Defense, which would keep detainees there.

U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin has said fewer than 100 detainees would be at Thomson, but Rep. Don Manzullo said today all of the more than 200 detainees would transfer to the prison.

The prison would have between 800 and 900 employees, of which about 500 jobs would go to locals who would have to compete with a national pool of candidates, said Harley Lappin, director of the prison bureau.

The defense department would have up to 1,500 military and civilian contract employees work in the detainee portion of the prison, said Phil Carter, deputy assistant secretary of defense for detainees.

Officials estimates the flood of new and transferred jobs would generate up to $1 billion over four years to the local economy. That's something Thomson Mayor Jerry "Duke" Hebeler would like to see.